KHAYELTSHA residents will ask the court to force the Cape Town Municipality to rebuild open air toilets – they have been described as a throwback top apartheid – they demolished on Monday.

Advocate Themba Langa, who is representing the 61 people whose toilets were taken by the council on Monday, says he will plead with the court to get the metro to engage the affected parties.

The court challenge comes after the city’s ANC Youth League secretary Loyiso Nkohla and 23 other people have spent two nights in Pollsmoor Prison, accused of inciting riots in protest against ’s open-air toilets.

They were arrested early on Tuesday morning after they organised a blockade of the busy N2 highway in protest against the city’s removal of the toilets.

Another group of 11 people, arrested on Tuesday afternoon, appeared in the Khayelitsha magistrate’s court yesterday . Dozens of ANCYL supporters gathered at the court yesterday in a show of solidarity.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance’s toilet troubles are spreading north of Cape Town, 140km up the N1 highway to De Doorns.

This time a refugee rights group has accused Western Cape Premier Helen Zille of leaving 300 displaced Zimbabweans in a camp without a single toilet.

A bitter squabble broke out yesterday between provincial officials and Braam Hanekom, spokesperson for People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (Passop).

The provincial government is poised to close down the displaced people’s camp in De Doorns, which sprung up last November when about 2000 Zimbabweans sought refuge there .

In an open letter, Hanekom lashed out at Zille after the metro allegedly removed all the toilets from the area on Tuesday.

But Ashraf Kafaar, a regional coordinator in the provincial department of local government and housing, claimed that the camp had 90 toilets, and that only 27 had been removed.

The official opening ceremony of the Extension 9 community hall in was postponed indefinitely on Friday amid protests from the residents over the consultation process.

Fuming ward 5 residents toyi-toyied and barricaded Ncede street that leads to the hall with stones, the gate to the hall was also locked, preventing municipal officials and vehicles from entering the hall. “We will burn it (the hall),” shouted one resident in the heat of the protest.

The disgruntled residents argued that they were not informed about the opening of the hall. They waved placards and chanted freedom songs that are against Makana mayor Vumile Lwana.

Ward 5 Councillor Luyanda Nase said the residents are unhappy because of lack of consultation on the part of the council. “This is for the people, the community was not informed on time about the opening of the hall. Even myself, as the councillor, I was not informed timeously about this."

He further stated that artists and caterers in the area were not part of the prepations. “The municipality hired caterers from other wards for the event, while we have caterers in the ward,”

An Extension 9 resident, Nomvume Stofile said: “There will be no opening of the hall today, Makana municipality should have consulted the community about the opening of the hall first. We don't even know the name of the hall."

She argued that there should have been a community-based structure that worked with the municipality on the preparations for the event. “After hearing about this on radio we approached the ward councillor and asked him if he knew anything about this, and he told us that he was unaware of it.

"Accompanied by our councillor, we then went to the mayor to find the answers, but Lwana refused to speak to us saying he would rather speak with the councillor. We told him we will leave with the councillor if he doesn't want to speak to us because we had all come to see him,” said Stofile.

Artists said they are dissapointed with the way they were treated by the municipality as they were invited to the event on the day before. Makana Arts Council secretary Luvuyo Phongolo said they were asked by the municipality to send only five artists to perform at the event.

He added that they were told the restriction of five artists was due to budgetary constraints. "We selected from the more than thirty artists which were auditioned last week for the world cup Public Viewing Area. “This morning we were welcomed by the angry residents and our members who stay in Extension 9 were also not aware of the event.”

Nase said: “The community only knew about this through the radio and some pamphlets which were distributed in the streets.”

Police arrived at the scene and told the residents that the municipality has sent someone to tell them that the event was postponed. About ten police vehicles were on the scene to keep an eye on the residents. The police cordoned off the area near the hall's entrance because the protesters were pushing each other towards the gate blocking access to the hall.

Makana corporate services director Thabiso Klaas arrived and told the protesters that the event was postponed until further notice. “I was asked by the council to tell you that your concerns are valid, and that the municipality is postponing the event to allow time to meet with the residents,” said Klaas.

At the time of going to print comment could not be obtained from the municipality as Makana spokesperson Thandy Matebese said he was busy.

My boys weren't thievesSlindile Maluleka 4 June 2010

A heartbroken father, 45-year-old Sibangani Memela, whose three sons were gunned down, allegedly by police from the Phoenix police station in Mount Moriah this week, has lost all trust in the police.

Memela now has only one wish, for the justice system not to fail him.

His sons, twins Xolisani and Mzothiswa, both 25, and Zikhaliphele, 22, originally from Bulwer, were allegedly shot dead by police on Tuesday night, after the brothers were accused of being responsible for several housebreakings.

Their brother, Mthethawukho, 27, was arrested at the scene.

Two guns were found at the crime scene and police claim that when they approached the house, the brothers opened fire on them first. But Memela said none of his sons owned a gun.

The killings have angered residents who staged a protest against police brutality yesterday.

The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) is investigating the police's conduct in the incident.

"My sons were not criminals and they would never be involved in any criminal activities. I always thought police could be trusted, but clearly I was wrong. My sons were the only breadwinners in the family. How am I going to live now?" asked Memela.

He said his sons were all football lovers who played for a local soccer team, Strikers FC, and "were looking forward to the World Cup that is just a few days away but never survived to see it".

Xolisani worked at a welding workshop in Springfield and the other sons had casual work.

"Mthethawukho told me police asked him where he was coming from and where he was going. He answered them. Police then asked him where he lived and who he lived with and he responded to their question," Memela said.

My son also said the police asked him to phone his brothers, to notify them that he was on his way home.

"His brothers were already expecting him. When they arrived at the house, police instructed him to knock on the door.

"As soon as the door was open, Mthethawukho was taken back to the vehicle and was assaulted while police opened fire, killing my three sons," said a sobbing Memela, who arrived at the scene a day after the incident.

He said his sons' cellphones, bank cards and ID books had gone missing after the incident.

Bhekizenzo Nzuza, the local community policing forum chairman, also came to the defence of the three men, saying they were never involved in any criminal activities.

"The only thing they were well known for was their soccer talent. The community is very unhappy about the incident and we demand to know the outcome of the investigations and the suspension of the officers involved," he said.

Nzuza alleged that incidents of people accusing police of harassment were frequent in Phoenix but it had never gone so far.

ICD national spokesman, Moses Dlamini, said they were investigating the shootings and other allegations that had been made against police.

He also confirmed that two firearms found at the crime scene had been taken for ballistic testing.

"The case could change depending on the findings," said Dlamini who declined to elaborate further on the incident, saying it would jeopardise the investigation process.

The IFP has expressed anger at the killings.

The party's national organiser, Albert Mncwango, said that they were concerned and outraged with what appeared to be "another incident of recklessness on the part of the KwaZulu-Natal police".

"There has been an alarming increase in similar incidents.

"The IFP would like to convey its heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Xolisani, Mzothiswa and Zikhaliphele," Mncwango said.

* This article was originally published on page 3 of The Daily News on June 04, 2010

Train services suspended after commuters set fire to carriagesSapa 4 June 2010

Train services in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg, have been suspended after angry commuters set alight train carriages

This means that as from this afternoon [Friday], Prasa will suspend train operations on that line until further notice.

"Passengers are advised to make alternative arrangements and to take note that no tickets will be sold for the Randfontein line," she said.

Angry passengers burnt down two carriages on Friday morning.

Police said the train was set alight when it was unable to proceed to Krugersdorp due to cable theft.

"They were angry that they will be late for work and set two carriages on fire," said police spokesman Warrant Officer Dennis Jones.

The fire was extinguished and a case of arson had been opened. No arrests had been made.

Protest march will halt examsASA SOKOPO Weekend Post 3 June 2010

EXAMS in the Eastern Cape will grind to a halt today (June 3) as South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (Sadtu) members march against corruption and poor service delivery within the provincial Department of Education, reports Dispatch Online.

Thousands of union members will march from Bhisho Stadium to the Premier’s Office to hand over a memorandum to Education MEC Mahlubandile Qwase, Premier Noxolo Kiviet and representatives from the Legislature.

Sadtu has cited “fruitless” meetings between themselves and the department as the reason behind the march – and as a result, Grade 6 and 9 pupils will write their arts and culture paper on Friday at 2pm.

Education specialist Dr Ken Alston said the march was “highly illegal”.

But Education Department deputy director-general Sithembele Zibi said various schools had requested the paper be postponed to accommodate the march.

Explaining why the paper was scheduled for 2pm, Zibi said there was already a paper being written in the morning and therefore the afternoon was the only suitable time.

Unions and schools in the province, however, condemned Sadtu’s disruption of exams.

The principal of a King William’s Town school said his school only received notification of the Sadtu march yesterday at about 2pm when pupils had already gone home.

“We had other commitments and can’t be hijacked like this. We don’t even know what the march is about and neither do my staff who are Sadtu members.” The deputy principal of a Mdantsane school said it would be “business as usual” for them.

Yesterday, Sadtu provincial general secretary Fezeka Loliwe said the march was their last resort.

“The department is becoming worse and, really, this is the last resort. Those who are alleged to be involved in corruption must be charged and suspended. In all likelihood, those people will tamper with evidence.

“Sadtu has tried to engage the Eastern Cape Department of Education on challenges facing the department on several occasions but to no avail,” Loliwe said.

Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysersunie provincial chairman Pierre Hauman said it was appalling teachers had to bear the brunt of an action that did not contribute to the quality of education.

He said it still remained unclear what the march was about.

Peter Duminy, provincial chief executive officer of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa, said they were concerned challenges that faced education in the province were further compounded by decisions made in response to pressure.

“It may be the year of the World Cup in our country, but that is no excuse to use the future of our children as a political football,” Duminy said. – Dispatch Online

Service delivery protests rock North West3 June 2010

There has been a resurgence of service delivery protests in the North West. In the last 48 hours, three separate protests took place in the province, the latest two occurring last night at Braklaagte village just outside Zeerust and the other at Majemantsho village, just outside Mafikeng.

On Tuesday night, more than 30 people were arrested at Tlaakgameng village just outside Vryburg after causing huge damages to public buildings, following a protest action. The Braaklagte community says protests are the only way to attract the attention of the Ramotshere‑Moiloa Local Municipality whose administrative seat is at Zeerust.

Locals claim that they have had irregular water supply for the past three years. The local municipality is accused of giving preferential treatment to municipal officials and traditional authorities. One of the examples cited by protesters is the erection of water tanks, within walking distance of the residences of the officials and traditional authorities at the expense of ordinary members of the community.

Angry protesters tried to destroy some of the water tanks, saying they do not serve the general interests of the community. However, the Braklaagte community leadership says it will meet with the local municipality later today in an effort to find solutions to the area's water challenges.

The community also claims that they have been drinking unhealthy water from tanks provided to them. They say that used condoms have often been found in the tanks. In Mafikeng, police were forced to use rubber bullets to disperse a mob of youth who had barricaded the road with burning tyres in protest against poor service delivery at Majemanthso village.

Protesters burn down multipurpose centre in TarltonSapa 4 June 2010

Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu. Photo: Sowetan

A multipurpose centre was burnt down in a service delivery protest in Tarlton, west of Johannesburg today, the Gauteng health department said.

Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu said a clinic, which was part of the building, was destroyed along with medication and baby formula stored there.

She said while communities had a right to protest, the destruction of public property was unacceptable.

“Destruction of state property such as clinics and multipurpose centres cannot be regarded as a form of protest, but an act of criminality as this has the potential to deny residents their right to access health services and other essential needs,” she said in a statement.

The health department would provide a mobile clinic in the area as an interim measure to ensure health services continued.

The department said hundreds of residents in Tarlton were protesting about service delivery related issues when they burnt down the centre.

Toilets 'violet right to dignity'Sapa 4 June 2010

The City of Cape Town had violated Khayelitsha residents' right to dignity by not enclosing toilets it installed for them, the SA Human Rights Commission said on Friday.

Commissioner Pregs Govender was releasing the findings of the commission's probe into the toilet saga, prompted by a complaint it received from the ANC Youth League in January.

She told a media briefing in Cape Town that the commission recommended that the city reinstall the 51 toilets, which were removed this week, and enclose them with immediate effect.

The enclosures should be brick and mortar, not corrugated iron, she said.

She said the full report on the commission's investigation would be released next week.

The findings come after several days of violent protests in Khayelitsha over the toilets, in which 32 people were arrested.

The council said it erected the toilets on the understanding that they would be enclosed by the members of the community they were intended for.

When the council erected iron and wood enclosures around them last week, members of the league took the lead in breaking these down. ‑ Sapa

Zille: ANCYL leader was part of open toilet programme4 June 2010

ANC Youth League (ANCYL) regional secretary, Andile Lili who called for the destruction of toilets in Makhaza, Western Cape was in fact part of the Cape Town City's service delivery programme ‑ which include the open air toilets ‑ as a "community liaison officer", Democratic Alliance leader Hele Zille says in her weekly newsletter titled The truth behind the so‑called "toilet wars".

Zille accepted that "open toilets are a serious affront to human dignity and cannot be condoned", but argued that it was due to budget constraints.

"The issue had its genesis under my watch as Mayor of Cape Town when the City began an ambitious programme to deliver services (such as water, sewerage, roads, storm water and electricity) to 223 informal settlements (home to around 650,000 shack dwellers) across the metropolitan area. Most of these settlements are the consequence of land invasions. Densities, and lack of planning, make “retrofitting” services in these areas a technically complex task," says Zille.

She says technical difficulties pale into insignificance compared to the social complexities of upgrading a densely populated informal settlement. "Inevitably, upgrading results in intense community conflict, as some people have to move to make way for service installation, and people vie for access to the jobs that upgrading offers. Usually, community conflict stalls delivery for many months, and often stops it altogether. Very few contractors wish to work on these projects because of the social conflict that inevitably arises, which is why they always cost more and take much longer than initially planned".

She says "to facilitate these processes where possible, contractors usually employ a “community liaison officer” (CLO) to achieve consensus and minimise conflict.

"In Silvertown, the CLO was none other than ANC Youth League (ANCYL) regional secretary, Andile Lili, who achieved notoriety when he was one of the group smashing the toilet enclosures in pursuit of the ANCYL’s call to destroy infrastructure and make the City “ungovernable”. In his paid position as CLO facilitating the Silvertown provision of services, Lili had played a key role in implementing an agreement that emerged from lengthy negotiations with the community about how to meet their priorities out of the available budget," says Zille.

The budget, based on the national norms for the upgrading of informal settlements, provides one flush toilet for every five families, she says, but the community understandably wanted one flush toilet per family.

"The proposed way to achieve this was for the City to provide the toilets and plumbing connections, while the families themselves would make a contribution and enclose the toilets. This seemed an ideal win‑win solution. It certainly was for the 97% (1,265) of Silvertown families who built their toilet enclosures, often in the most innovative “en‑suite” arrangements attached to their dwellings. But it did not work for 51 families (less than 3% of total beneficiaries). For whatever reason, they did not enclose their toilets, and some even used their open air toilets under cover of blankets," Zille says.

She says when the City built enclosures for the 51 open toiltets – it encountered resistance from the 1,265 families who argued that if they had built their enclosures themselves, so could the remaining 51.

"After listening to these arguments, Mayor Plato concluded that it would be untenable to continue with the indignity of open toilets. The City would therefore enclose the remaining toilets. By this time, the ANCYL had realised it was on to a good thing. Photos of unenclosed toilets had appeared in the media. The ANCYL lost no time using this to “prove” the lie that the DA treats black people with indignity, and developed a keen interest in ensuring the toilets remained open," Zille says.

She says when the City biult enclosures, the ANC youth league broke down the enclosures "as fast as they could be built – against the pleas of the owners to stop doing so".

"This left the City with only two options: to leave the toilets unenclosed, or to remove them. The first option remained untenable. It was therefore resolved that the toilets would be temporarily removed until enclosures were built. Then the toilets would be returned. This could, theoretically, happen within a few days. In the meantime, the community would continue to be serviced by toilets on the national standard ratio of 5 families to 1 toilet (with a concrete enclosure)," says Zille.

She says this is far better than what is available in most informal settlements in ANC‑run metropolitan areas. A recent National Treasury report found that Cape Town was well ahead of other metro municipalities in dealing with infrastructure backlogs and delivery of services.

"Cape Town would be even further ahead if it were not for the vandalism of municipal infrastructure, such as the wanton destruction of toilets perpetrated by the ANCYL last week," says Zille.

According to Alderman Clive Justus, Cape Town’s Mayco member for Utility Services, the City last year spent more than R80 million on repairing or replacing stolen or vandalised basic services in informal settlements.

Zille says for every R3 that the City spends of its R125 million annual budget for water and sanitation facilities in informal settlements, R2 is spent on repairs and replacement of vandalized or stolen infrastructure.

Justus said recently that in the past financial year, the City had installed 422 water stand pipes, but had to effect 5 482 repairs to sabotaged or stolen pipes and taps. In the same year, the City’s Utility Services installed 2 458 toilets, but had to make 4, 302 repairs to cisterns, pans, pipes and ablutions damaged by criminals.

Last December, 300 out of 464 toilets installed in a Delft informal settlement were broken or had parts stolen. In Philippi, vandals destroyed 26 ablution blocks containing six toilets each. In RR Section of Khayelitsha, chemical toilets were burned to the ground. This all happened within weeks of installation.

"To address the theft of copper cabling, brass valves, lead batteries, manhole covers and water meters, the City is now using only plastic or steel pipes, and concrete for toilets. Underground electricity cables are now covered with concrete so that they can’t be dug out. Cape Town’s ‘Copperheads’ task team has also cracked down on dealers of stolen scrap metal. The City has even provided padlocks and chains to community leaders to keep toilet facilities secure overnight," says Zille.

She says Justus warned that a new pattern is emerging, whereby plastic pipes are stolen, despite their minimal re‑sale value, concrete toilets are smashed with axes, and even padlocks are being taken.

"City officials report that residents sometimes vandalise facilities to secure more jobs in the subsequent repair programmes on the basis of the City’s “local employment” policies, creating a perverse incentive for people to destroy newly installed infrastructure, to secure employment in the repair work. When contractors employ other outside labour, local communities often drive them out of the area, delaying projects by months and years. This pushes up the cost of services in informal settlements," says Zille.

She says the city has decided that the best way to instill a sense of ownership and an ethos of respecting property, is for each family to contribute to the construction and maintenance of their own toilet.

‑ Times Live

Dis-Chem workers enter day six of national strikeSACCAWU 2 June 2010

SACCAWU members at Dis-Chem outlets throughout the country are entering their sixth day on strike to compel the company to negotiate with the Union for wage increases and other terms and conditions of employment. Workers in the meantime have decided to intensify the strike and call on solidarity from the community at large, while considering calling on workers employed at suppliers to Dis-Chem to take action as well as discussing a consumer boycott.

The refusal of Dis-Chem to negotiate with the Union has led to SACCAWU embarking on the current protected strike action. Over the recent period the Union has noticed a tendency by some national, regional and local companies of adopting extremely intransigent positions in dealings with SACCAWU. This development appears to be a calculated move on the side of some employers to use the national mood and patriotic fervour during the FIFA World Cup to push through severe on the working class and erode rights fought for and won through bitter struggles over decades. Such employers hope that workers will not engage in industrial action during the World Cup, while at the same time employers embark on rampant attacks on the working class. Dis-Chem's attitude in this dispute is a clear example of this.

Underlying this attitude is the ongoing attempts throughout the wholesale and retail sector to weaken the trade union movement. However, we will not allow the rights of workers to be eroded by such anti-union employers, neither will we be blackmailed, held hostage and silenced because we're hosting the FIFA World Cup. This tendency is calculated to solicit support of the unsuspecting public, pitting them against the labour movement and working class under the pretext of so-called and selective patriotism. If the corporations were genuinely patriotic as they would like to be projected, why is it that we always have to drag them kicking and screaming when it comes to workers rights or the Proudly South African Campaign. Even today many still do not support this campaign. It is for this reason that we warn the public of such convenient and selective patriotism of the bosses and must be rejected with the contempt it deserves.

Despite workers being harassed by store managers, mall managers, Metro Police, SAPS, including the assault of some workers on the picket-line by a store manager in Pretoria, the workers remain united and determined in the strike. The harassment faced by striking workers on the picket-line is a further attempt to provoke workers and turn public opinion against the strike instead of negotiating with SACCAWU the issues placed on the table by the workers. SACCAWU also expresses concern about CCMA role in imposing picket rules that negate workers' right to picket and instead outrightly favour companies that further exacerbate the problems on the picket line. In this regard SACCAWU has decided for a review or variation of the picket rules.

In the meantime SACCAWU has called for a meeting with COSATU and affiliated unions that represent workers supplying the pharmacy chain to consider further action. SACCAWU also intend calling a meeting with police unions to discuss the issues of harassment of striking workers on the picket-lines. This unusual high-handedness displayed by the police in open collusion with store managers and Mall managers in this strike, at the expense of workers rights disguised as ensuring law and order during the World Cup would not be tolerated. Because of the issues of harassment of striking workers on the picket-line we call on the Ministry of Police to urgently intervene and address this matter. Failure to address these problems on the picket-line can only lead to chaos, if needs be we will call a meeting with the Minister or his representatives to raise these problems.

At the same time SACCAWU is preparing for mass protest marches in various centers in the country while also canvassing and considering a call for a consumer boycott of Dis-Chem. Finally, SACCAWU is also starting an international solidarity campaign to support the striking workers.

Workers Demand that:Dis-Chem must negotiate with SACCAWU on the following demands. • R3500-00 minimum wage• 15% across the board increase• conversion of casuals to permanent after three months• guaranteed 13th cheque• parental rights, medical aid, transport allowance and improvement of other benefits

Strike by over a hundred workers at Autumn Slate Quarry, a slate producing company at Groot Marico in Zeerust, some 70 km outside Rustenburg in the Northwest province has today entered its fourth week. The workers who earn a R1000 per month demand that the company should increase its minimum wages to at least R3000 per month and that it should also offer a R1500 living out allowance. “It is totally ridiculous that at this time and age, there is still a company that pays its workforce one thousand rands per month” says Lazarus Ditshwene, the NUM‘s Regional Chairperson in the Rustenburg region. Meanwhile, management has disappeared for some time whilst the workers continue to protest at the mine. The Department of Labour inspectors who arrived at the company yesterday had declared the conditions inhumane and would next week revisit the company to meet its management. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) calls on management to accede to workers demands and on the Department of Mineral Resources to take some action on the state of Health at the mine.

SACCAWU Press release; Massdiscounters strike against retrenchments and unilateral changes in terms and conditions of employment

High-handed Wallmart tactics at work as Massdiscounters unilaterally restructure and prepare to retrench 1 500 workers

The Massdiscounters division of Massmart Holdings is busy with the most aggressive union-bashing attack SACCAWU has experienced since the height of Apartheid. The company in what appears to be preparing the ground for the speculated takeover by Walmart has decided to unilaterally restructure all company operations which will include the retrenchment of 1500 workers and a range of draconian restructuring measures reminiscent of the darkest days of Apartheid. The proposed measures will have a severe negative effects on the terms and conditions of employment for the bulk of workers employed by Massdiscounters.

Similar processes are at work at Makro another of Massmart Holdings divisions. This to us is a clear indication of the Walmartisation of the group in the context of ongoing speculation that Walmart intends to buy-out Massmart Holdings. This is of grave concern to SACCAWU as Walmart is known to be the most hostile and openly anti-union retail company in the world. SACCAWU will not tolerate or accept any downward variation of workers employment conditions and will fight these developments with all our might. SACCAWU also plans to tackle the Massmart group as a whole to prevent these changes and will oppose all attempts by Walmart to takeover Massmart.

At Massdiscounters, after months of negotiations over retrenchments, restructuring and re-engineering of job descriptions and job titles with no progress, SACCAWU decided to take action to halt the current unilateral introduction of these measures and prevent any further changes without consultation and agreement with SACCAWU.

All those not faced with retrenchment to reapply for their positions under new terms of employment as outlined above.

All re-applications to be considered after an interview which will include psychometric testing, which upon failing workers will be demoted.

All those that will remain in employment will be given new job titles, job descriptions and for many new salary rates.

The introduction of new Green Light technology that requires tertiary vocational training and the refusal by the company to offer any training to staff except for management.

In the context of the current economic climate, high levels of unemployment and the national consensus to cushion the severest effects on workers, Massdiscounters shows no regard for the consequences of their plans on an already stressed working class. While there has been a clamour to call on workers not to strike during the World Cup Competition, it is clear that bosses are hoping to use the same period to push through such draconian measures as planned by Massdiscounters. They hope to turn public opinion against striking workers while ruthlessly attacking workers standard of living. We want to state clearly that is the bosses that are using the World Cup competition to drive down workers terms and conditions of employment. However, we will not be admitted nor compromise workers rights because of the World Cup. We call on the community to support workers in their struggles against these attacks.

In the light of the above and failure to make progress in negotiations with the company, SACCAWU deadlocked and withdrew from negotiations. The company in turn responded by issuing notices of termination of services to about 200 workers at the warehouses and numerous stores. These notices were accompanied by the police to enforce and escort workers off the premises.

It is clear that the company is targeting the strongholds of the SACCAWU, our shopstewards and active union members. This is not simply a dispute over restructuring but blatant union-bashing.

The workers at a National Shopstewards Council resolved to engage in disciplined industrial action to confront this onslaught by the bosses.

Workers have decided to commence their struggle with a day of action at all the Massdiscounters stores and warehouses throughout the country scheduled for 10 June 2010. This action will take the form of mass marches in various big centres in the country and pickets at all other outlets throughout the country. This action will be followed by other forms of industrial action.

Massdiscounters workers will also convene a meeting with workers and shopstewards from all other divisions of Massmart Holdings to develop a programme of action across the group to stop the Walmatisation and union-bashing actions of the group.

MORE than 50000 soldiers would receive five months’ back pay in July, six months after salary increases were announced by President Jacob Zuma , the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said yesterday.

The chief of human resources in the SANDF, Lt-Gen Derick Mgwebi, yesterday said the delay in making the payment was because the military feared the clerical and computerised parts of its systems would be overloaded.

“You want to minimise any errors in terms of what happens at the end of the day,” he said during a media briefing in Pretoria.

Mgwebi’s disclosure followed a complaint by the South African National Defence Union (Sandu) last week, amid talk of fresh protests by soldiers during next month’s Soccer World Cup.

The union said Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu had reneged on a commitment, made in her department’s budget vote on May 4, to make the payments from May 15.

The money owed to between 50000 and 55000 soldiers followed a salary adjustment of between 2% and 65% for lower ranks effected in December.

The wage hikes — backdated to July of last year — came soon after a protest march by soldiers in Pretoria turned violent, resulting in about 1300 being placed on special leave pending investigations.

While most of the accused soldiers had been cleared, others would be brought before a military court, said Mgwebi. Strikes within the military carried a heavy penalty, he said.

“It is quite clear that soldiers are a different breed of people ... the constitution doesn’t allow us to strike,” he said, effectively igniting a fresh debate that sets the military against the unions, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). Last year, Cosatu came out in support of soldiers’ right to strike.

In 1998, the Constitutional Court affirmed the right of soldiers to join unions.

More recently, the unions argued that they had resorted to protest action as a last resort because of the military’s dysfunctional grievance procedure. This included a “nonfunctioning” military bargaining council.

Mgwebi said Sandu was one of two registered military unions in SA. But he said neither Sandu nor the South African Security Forces Union (Sasfu) met the 15000- member requirement needed to sit on the military bargaining council.

However, Mgwebi said Sandu disputed the military’s claims, and this had in turn resulted in the Department of Defence enlisting KPMG to audit the union’s membership. The results of that audit were still pending. In the meantime, the SANDF was engaging the unions “informally”.

Sandu national secretary Pikkie Greeff dismissed the military’s assertion that the union did not meet the threshold required to sit on the bargaining council.

“We are an admitted party to the council and have been for nine years,” Greeff said. If this was not the case, “the correct procedure for the employer would have been to declare a dispute arbitrated in the council itself”.

Since the recent salary adjustments, soldiers’ earnings were comparable with those of the police, said Mgwebi. Members of the defence force were often seen as being paid too little to make it into the middle class.

Mgwebi said in the past three years the SANDF had been involved in a process to determine the true financial worth of members. Comparisons had been made with countries such as Australia and Brazil. “We are working on this specific nature of military service,” he said.johwaw@bdfm.co.za

Two hundred protesters burned tyres on the outskirts of Cape Town yesterday in the latest salvo against the "racist" city council.

The protesters, mainly supporters of the ANC Youth League, are upset with the council for building "inhumane" corrugated-iron toilet shelters instead of fully enclosed structures for residents in Khayelitsha.

But the city says it was simply doing what the community had asked for.

A large group of police watched yesterday as protesters set up a barrier of burning tyres in Walter Sisulu Drive, close to the controversial toilets site in Ward 95.

The latest protest was sparked by the council's decision to remove the unfinished toilets after some of them were destroyed last week by youth league supporters.

Police spokeswoman Captain Anneke van der Vyver said police responded to two groups of protesters during the course of yesterday morning, but there were no reports of injuries.

"Tyres were burnt by a group of onlookers who were residents in that area. Police responded immediately and extinguished the tyres. They did not fire rubber bullets," Van der Vyver said.

She said the crowd calmed down after being addressed by senior provincial officials, who explained the situation regarding the controversial toilets.

Last week, Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato publicly defended the city's moves, but the youth league claims the toilets are "racist" and insulting to the area's black residents.

Plato told a press conference yesterday that the affected community should protest against "hooligans" who destroyed much-needed infrastructure.

He told The Times last night that most of the 51 families who benefited from the "unfinished" toilets were angry with the youth league as they would now have to use "communal" toilets.

He said that more than 1000 similar "unfinished" toilets had been properly enclosed by other communities.

"At the end of the day those families are back to square one, where they have to continue sharing the community toilets," Plato said.

"I would have loved to enclose those toilets because it is the ideal aim for us, still, to have one toilet for each erf. Other enclosed toilets look so nice."

Plato said it was the city's "honest aim to bring some dignity back into the lives of these people".

"It is a completely unfortunate situation for the youth league to make a unilateral decision for the whole community. They say no one will erect the toilets," he said.

"I see politicking in it. I think that to some extent it has blown up in their [the youth league's] faces. I don't think they expected outrage from the public. The public is really cross because we try our level best to provide service."

Plato vowed to "continue to do what is in the best interests of the citizens of Cape Town living in those conditions".